Photographing food for a menu...

Trojan911

Hi all,

I've been asked to photograph food for the menu of a new restaurant that is opening soon in Cork. I think it is mostly for their website, haven't got full details yet.

Now, I know that it is not as simple as just snapping away at a few steaks & banna fritters, there is lighting, DoF, presentation etc to consider & I was wondering has anyone done this in the past & if so could they pass a few tips my way?

I am thinking a tripod & my remote control to prevent any camera shake for starters.

Or is there a website I could visit, one that someone here might be able to recommend for hints & tips (already Googling & flicking through cookbooks etc like a mad thing ).

Thanks in advance.......

bradnailer

I was speaking to someone a while back that preps all the food for a Irish TV dramatic production (the food that's filmed) They were telling me that nothing is as it appears, uncooked meats, paints, varnish all sorts of trickery.
Take your common Big Mac you'll never buy one that looks like the adds.

5uspect

Wasn't there something on telly about this recently. There's a reality show where couples are each given a restaurant adn one couple gets fired each week yadda yadda yadda.

Last week they had to do a cookbook as a challenge. Basically they cooked the food and then covered it in olive oil to give it "the look".
They also had some pretty good photographers to do the shooting. Some of the contestants were so up themselves they totally ignored the advise given...

shepthedog

Dodgy keeper does a lot of food photography and knows quite a bit about it.. He might be able to fill you in on this..
As brad says theres considerable trickery used, special varnishes and the likes...

Borderfox

Cold food with a hot towel behind the plate to simulate steam!! small aperture number f8-f12 and as you said tripod and remote control or timer

Fireman

Are you using the tripod only for the starters what about the main course, sorry couldn't resist it !!!

Trojan911 wrote: »

Hi all,

I've been asked to photograph food for the menu of a new restaurant that is opening soon in Cork. I think it is mostly for their website, haven't got full details yet.

Now, I know that it is not as simple as just snapping away at a few steaks & banna fritters, there is lighting, DoF, presentation etc to consider & I was wondering has anyone done this in the past & if so could they pass a few tips my way?

I am thinking a tripod & my remote control to prevent any camera shake for starters.

Or is there a website I could visit, one that someone here might be able to recommend for hints & tips (already Googling & flicking through cookbooks etc like a mad thing ).

Thanks in advance.......

Trojan911

Fireman wrote: »

Are you using the tripod only for the starters what about the main course, sorry couldn't resist it !!!

Ok, excellent reply, I did laugh, got to give you that one

Borderfox wrote:

Cold food with a hot towel behind the plate to simulate steam!! small aperture number f8-f12 and as you said tripod and remote control or timer

That's a good tip, thanks. I agree with the above comments in that you rarely get what is shown on the image, however the place is going to be upmarket so one would expect to get what you see. I can only do my best I suppose with help from my ole chum "Photoshop" if the wheel comes off.....

ThOnda

Use oil to sprinkle glasses - oil won't evaporate so quickly as water.

mikeanywhere

ThOnda wrote: »

Use oil to sprinkle glasses - oil won't evaporate so quickly as water.

Good tip!!

PJW

http://www.harryweir.com/menu.htm

This guy was the photographer at a movieextras shoot in the westbury, he gave me his card as he was intrested in my son for some cloths model shoot. I remembered the food photos from when I was checking him out some nice images on there.

Tactical

You'll have to be really quick off the mark and shoot as soon as the food is ready.

Have decided what the "set" for each shot will be and have everything set up well before the dish is presented.

Do you have to do the set design or have the clients done this for you? Strike up a good working relationship with the chef, don't be afraid to ask him / her to re-present the dish if a shot takes too long. Rember to tell them that it is their work that is going to be the final product and that you're sure they'll understand that its in their interest to have it presented in the best possible condition. Be firm but polite.

Avoid yellow in the set, don't ask me why but its something I've heard in relation to a food set.

Be careful not to allow steam from a dish condense on a lens, might sound stupid but if that peice of glass is cold enough...

Look through as many cookbooks as possible, especially the more recent ones by popular chefs. Find out what the theme or style of the establishment will be.

DOF will in some way be dependant on the style or theme the client is looking for. Some of the more modern cookbooks have quite a shallow DOF whereas some of the less modern ones have a larger DOF. Talk with the client about this as it can make a huge difference to the end product (i.e. the shot)

Think about the location the shoot will take place in. For example, how close is the nearest power point, will you need extension leads? Is there enough room for your lighting? Have you a suitable surface to shoot on, what about background? If you have to bring your own shooting table keep in mind space requirements.

Remember that a client often has no idea of how much space is actually required for particular shots. I amazed a client recently when I informed them I'd have to use a studio for a particular shot as the available space on their premesis wasn't adequate. I even had to demonstrate this to them when they didn't believe what I was telling them and absolutely insisted that the tiny available space was more than enough. One peep throught the viewfinder changed their miond but had wasted a lot of their time and effort in assembling the set. After that what ever I said was listened to. Sometimes you need to take a deep breath....

Try and minimise the amount of people present at the shoot. Find out do all the shots have to be taken in the one session? Remember the chef as well as yourself will be under pressure if there are a lot of shots to be taken.

Will the client require shots from inside the establishment. Is your lens wide enough? Have you adequate lighting or will you need to hire additional equipment?

Try to ensure that the cutlery and ware used will be the same as that the establishment will actually be using.

Bring some tweezers, wooden skewers, cotton wool / buds (for mopping up small spillages, area cleaning on a plate). They'll be invaluable in cleaning /tidying up a shot quickly.

Don't forget about mixing a little glycerene with water and a spray bottle for that water droplet effect (e.g. for a really fresh look on lettuce leafs etc...) Condensation on glasses can be achieved by keeping some ultra clean glasses in both the fridge and freezer, you can never have too many as the condensation can run, a finger print can wreck something etc...

A can of compressed air for gently blowing debris, fibres etc can be invaluable as can a pair of laytex / nitrile gloves for handling ware, cutlery, glass ware without leaving finger prints. Don't wear anything that sheds fibres as you may not notice them on the shoot and you'll save a lot of time cloning afterwards.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss anything about the shoot and the best of luck

Dodgykeeper

shepthedog wrote: »

Dodgy keeper does a lot of food photography and knows quite a bit about it.. He might be able to fill you in on this..
As brad says theres considerable trickery used, special varnishes and the likes...

Have done a bit of this but most of it was in a live kitchen so there was no time for the staging etc mentioned above and the rest was in a competition setting where the food was to be taken as is and not altered. For the Competition shots i used a Softbox setting and had the food on a white table with white backround.

Some great tips above and ones which I will be using.

unreggd

Borderfox wrote: »

Cold food with a hot towel behind the plate to simulate steam!!

Hahah, my college teacher said he uses tampons as they retain steam about 20 times longer :P

Tactical

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